PHILADELPHIA, PA WXPN, the nationally-recognized leader in Triple A music and noncommercial radio service of the University of Pennsylvania, names Vampire Weekend as its January Artist To Watch. Host Jim McGuinn will present the first of the month’s on-air segments on Wednesday, January 2, in the 4 p.m. hour.

Reminiscent of musical greats like Paul Simon and the Talking Heads, Vampire Weekend dubs their music genre “Upper West Side Soweto.” This indie-rock band produces a sound of their own by mixing Western classical, American indie-rock and South African traditional music. After meeting in college, the band formed in the spring of 2006 and has been turning out infectious, ironic, quirky tunes to form a hometown New York following that continues to grow. With their self-titled debut album, lead singer Ezra Koenig, bassist Chris Baio, drummer Chris Tomson and keyboardist/producer Rostam Batmanglij have created a thrilling Afro-pop sound for their highly anticipated release on XL Records in January 2008.

"Vampire Weekend have been on my radar for a little over a year now,” said Bruce Warren, assistant general manager of programming for WXPN. “We love their sound and freshness – imagine Paul Simon’s `Graceland’ colliding with the indie-pop of The Shins and you’ve got a really cool new band who sound nothing like their name implies. These four young gents have bright futures ahead.”

For more on the XPN Artists To Watch series and this month’s featured artist, visit Artist To Watch

The XPN Artists To Watch series reflects WXPN’s commitment to nurturing fresh, new talent and exposing listeners to the best new music. Each month, the XPN Artists To Watch series spotlights a different up-and-coming performer who has produced an album or body of work that demonstrates outstanding vision, creativity and songwriting ability. Month-long on-air promotion is combined with online features to help audiences discover each artist.

WXPN, the nationally recognized leader in Triple A radio and the premier guide for discovering new and significant artists in rock, blues, roots, and folk, is the non-commercial, member-supported radio service of the University of Pennsylvania. WXPN produces World Cafe®, public radio’s most popular program of popular music hosted by David Dye and syndicated by NPR, and the Peabody Award winning Kids Corner hosted by Kathy O’Connell. WXPN also produces the alternative rock service, Y-Rock On XPN as its secondary radio channel in HD. WXPN serves the greater Philadelphia area at 88.5 FM, the Lehigh Valley at 104.9, Worton/Baltimore at 90.5 FM, Lancaster/York at 88.7 FM, Harrisburg at 99.7 FM, and the world via online streaming at XPN.org.